MCSO correspondence proves that the 6% reduction in the cost of police services was
the result of a significant reduction in MCSO’s personnel costs and not Friedel’s meetings with Sheridan
The Mayor has a plan
When Gerry Friedel woke up on February 6th, he must have been feeling very lucky. That day he would fulfill one of the 12 commitments he made in his “100 Day Pledge to Residents,” widely circulated at the end of his campaign. That morning, he would fulfill his pledge “to establish (sic) monthly coffee with the Mayor to ensure transparency”. Admittedly, not a particularly notable achievement, but it was one pledge down and 11 to go.
But, the exciting part, the lucky part, responsible for the jaunty spring in Friedel’s step that brisk morning, was “the letter.” The letter the Town had received just the day before. A letter that looked like the letter the Town received in February every year with the “re line” “FY2026 Contracted Law Enforcement”. The letter from the COO of the MCSO advising Fountain Hills how much it would pay for Law Enforcement Services during the upcoming fiscal year. But this year the letter was very different. This year for the first time, the letter advised the Town Manager, Rachael Goodwin, that next year Fountain Hills would pay less for law enforcement services. The reduction was not the result of anything Friedel did or said. It was an adjustment made every year that was always communicated in February.
Under the terms of its Law Enforcement Services Agreements with the towns and cities it contracts with, in February of each year MCSO must advise the municipalities of the amount they will be assessed for police services during the upcoming fiscal year. The February deadline ensures that MCSO’s “clients” will have sufficient time to factor this this expense into their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.
The annual adjustments made by MCSO are based on its past and projected costs. Usually, due primarily to inflation, the amount to be paid goes up, but this year would be different. This year, to Friedel’s delight, the number was actually going down and he had made a decision that during the first “Coffee with the Mayor” he would take credit for this unanticipated windfall.
What the letter said about the reduction
The letter signed by Jim Prindiville, the Chief Operating Officer for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, reported that, as a result of a decision made by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 2023, the amount to be paid by Fountain Hills during the next fiscal year would be decreased by $373,468.27. Other municipalities that contracted with MCSO for law enforcement services, including Carefree and Cave Creek, would have received similar advisories from Mr. Prindiville.
Friedel, apparently believing that the actual reasons for the reduction would not be made public, decided that he would take the credit for the “savings”. For well over a year, Friedel had made the MCSO contract a campaign issue, claiming that Fountain Hills was paying for the police service the MCSO provided to Rio Verde. He contended that the contract renegotiated during Mayor Dickey’s term was woefully inadequate and even suggested that Mayor Dickey had failed to address the contract’s many inadequacies because she and Sheriff Penzone were both democrats. Friedel had repeatedly stated that, if elected, he would negotiate a better deal.
Friedel sets the stage
During the “Coffee with the Mayor” Friedel stood in the center of the room and first announced that he had fulfilled his pledge to meet with the newly elected sheriff, Jerry Sheridan, to review the MCSO contract and share his often-voiced concern that Fountain Hills was not getting what it was paying for. Friedel went on to advise the attendees that following this meeting MCSO decided to reduce the contract’s cost by 6% for the upcoming fiscal year.
Friedel’s announcement was met with applause by his many supporters and with skepticism by at least one observer, who familiar with the terms of the MCSO contract, including the annual cost adjustments, decided to request and review the correspondence advising Fountain Hills of the reduction.
The press release
On the day of the Mayor’s Coffee, Fountain Hills posted a “News Flash” titled: “Towns MCSO Law Enforcement Contract to Decrease Significantly with No Cuts to Service”. In the press release, widely disseminated to other media outlets, Friedel made the following statement:
“I am pleased to announce that the MCSO contract for Fountain Hills residents will go down roughly 6%!” said Mayor Gerry M. Friedel. “A short time after being sworn in, Sheriff Jerry Sheridan and I met. I expressed the concerns I had with the contract and to say he listened would be an understatement! This is a win for our entire community.”
This was not the first draft of the press release. In an earlier draft, Paul Soldinger, the Chief Financial Officer for the town, suggested a version that would have truthfully advised the public that the “savings” was the result of a reduction of MCSO’s personnel costs and not the result of Friedel’s meeting with Sheridan. This version was rejected in favor of the one that would allow Friedel to suggest and later claim that Sheridan agreed to give the Town a discount after Friedel expressed his concerns about the contract.
The statement was carefully crafted to imply but not directly state that Friedel’s meeting with the sheriff resulted in the MCSO’s decision to charge fountain Hills $370,000 less for police services.
The inclusion of the phrase ‘to say he [Sheridan] listened would be an understatement!’ clearly implies that after hearing Friedel’s concerns, the Sheriff agreed to give Fountain Hills a discount. Clearly, that is what many of Friedel’s supporters believed. Following the announcement, he was showered with praise.
In a post, now deleted, Councilmember Hannah Toth boasted that, in a few short months the “conservatives” had saved Fountain Hills taxpayers “almost a million”.
Friedel claims direct credit for the “savings”
Toward the end of a letter to the editor, published on February 21st, Friedel took direct credit for the reduction.
Opinion
Confusion over MCSO contract savings in Fountain Hills
Posted Friday, February 21, 2025 10:42 am
By Gerry Friedel | Mayor, Town of Fountain Hills
My meetings with Sheriff Jerry Sheridan resulted in year-over-year savings of 6%, or approximately $370,000. The new contract is the first MCSO contract savings in decades.
If Gerry’s initial statement was circumspect, leaving room for plausible deniability, the statement he made in the February 21st letter to the editor was not. This statement, directly linking Friedel’s meetings with Sheridan to the reduction, left no room for interpretation or plausible deniability. The statement was a blatant misrepresentation and there is a contract and a letter to prove it.
The cost reduction was the result of events that predated Friedel’s meetings with Sheriff Sheridan
MCSO’s Law Enforcement Services Agreement with Fountain Hills, and other municipalities that contract for its services, is based on a “cost recovery” model. Essentially, the MCSO recovers the direct costs it incurs in providing law enforcement services and assesses an additional 3% to recover its indirect administrative costs.
In the contract, municipalities agree to reimburse the MCSO as detailed in annualized worksheets for the fiscal year (See, MCSO Agreement Section III. A. 1) The total amount paid under the contract on a fiscal year basis is subject to a 3% administrative service charge “to help recover a portion of the administrative support costs” (III. D.6)
The reimbursement costs under the agreement are reviewed and revised annually. (III. B.) The MCSO agrees that no later than Februrary 20 of the preceding fiscal year, it will provide the town manager with the calculated annualized amount to be paid for the upcoming fiscal year. (III.B.1).
On February 5, 2025, the MCSO fulfilled its obligation to communicate its calculations and the resulting annualized adjustment to Fountain Hills. The letter from Mr. Prindiville begins with the following two paragraphs:
“Enclosed, per Section III.A.2.a. of the Law Enforcement Services Agreement between the Town of Fountain Hills and Maricopa County on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office, is the updated Worksheet (Exhibit A) with Law Enforcement charges for FY 2026, effective July 1, 2025. “
The FY 2026 cost is $5,759,468.37. This a net decrease of $373,243.21 (6.09%) from the current year. “
The explanation for the reduction was provided on page 2 of the letter in the following paragraph:
“In 2023, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors took advantage of low interest rates to pay down unfunded pension liabilities, directing $500 million into the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) and Corrections Officer Retirement Plan (CORP). This is the first year of reduced pension contribution rates, and they are reflected in the lower benefits rate applied to sworn deputy compensation. “
The reduction had no connection to and certainly did not result from Friedel’s meetings with Sheriff Sheridan. We do not doubt that a meeting or meetings were held where Friedel expressed his concerns to the Sheriff. But the Sheriff did not respond to Friedel’s concerns by cutting him a deal to knock 6% off the amount Fountain Hills would be required to pay during the next fiscal year.
As evidenced by the letter from Mr. Prindiville, pictured above, the events that led to the reduction had been in the works years before the mayor and the sheriff met. In 2023, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors decided to pay down the County’s unfunded pension liabilities under the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. This “pay down” resulted in lower personnel costs for MCSO and a corresponding cost reduction for Fountain Hills and other municipalities (including Carefree and Cave Creek) it serves. The reduction was also attributed to vacancy credits, negotiated into the contract during Mayor Dickey’s administration, resulting at the time, in a $722,000 reduction. Notably, but not surprisingly, Mayor Dickey never attempted to take credit for this considerably more significant “reduction”.
Friedel attempts to walk back his claim
It appears that Friedel’s unambiguous and unsupported claim that his meetings with the sheriff resulted in the reduction concerned either Sheridan or other MCSO officials. After the letter to the editor was published, Friedel attempted to walk back his statement, through a “Friedel Friday” that was not published on his official page but to a large, private Facebook Group, known for blocking and banishing Friedel’s critics. In this post Friedel stated: “Let me be clear this [the 6% reduction] has nothing to do with me…”
Friedel’s ultimate admission that he had nothing to do with the 6% reduction was too little -too late. Based on the comments accompanying the post, Friedel’s supporters viewed this statement not as an admission that he had not told them the truth in his initial statements, but as evidence of his humility, a humble man’s reluctance to take credit where credit was due.
A hollow promise of “transparency”
Toward the conclusion of the letter to the editor, Friedel wrote: “I will always be transparent to the residents of Fountain Hills.”
In retrospect, Friedel’s choice of the preposition “to” as opposed to “with” is both significant and ironic. Friedel is transparent to those residents who can see through his inartful attempts at deception, but Friedel has not been transparent with any of us.